Virtual+Construction+Simulator+Game+(2011)


 * A simulation game for construction engineering education toc**

Grant: #0935040 ($150,000) Timeline: 2009 - 2011
 * Sponsor:** National Science Foundation

Participants: John Messner (PI), Chimay Anumba (co-PI), Sarah Zappe (co-PI), Brett Bixler (co-PI), Dragana Nikolic

Project Summary
Understanding the dynamic nature of the construction process and the ability to make important decisions about resource utilization, sequencing, site layout, and project-related risks are critical skills for design and construction engineering students. The increase in projects complexity and shorter schedules pose pressure to develop more efficient construction methods, and also many challenges to educators to prepare students to manage these multifaceted processes.

The **//goal//** of this project is **// to improve engineering education in building and construction through the use of interactive construction project simulation game .//** The goal is to create an experiential simulation environment where students can make decisions about resources, methods, cost/time trade-offs and related risks; and observe the impact of these decisions over time; thus actively learning to manage various factors that impact construction schedules. The immediate feedback will allow students to track their own progress, while the competition and scoring will introduce fun for more engaged, motivated and deeper learning of complex construction concepts.

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VCS Download
The VCS3 simulation game **download **page has the latest version with instructions how to install, run and use the VCS.

Related publications

 * Lee, S., Nikolic, D., Messner, J.I., and Anumba, C. (2011)** **"The Development of the Virtual Construction Simulator 3 – An Interactive Simulation Environment for Construction Management Education."** //Proceedings of the 2011 ASCE International Workshop on Computing in Civil Engineering,// Miami, Florida, June 19-22


 * Nikolic, D., Lee, S., Messner, J.I., and Anumba, C. (2010)** **"The Virtual Construction Simulator – Evaluating an Educational Simulation Application for Teaching Construction Management Concepts."** //Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Applications of IT in the AEC Industry// 2010, Cairo, Egypt


 * Nikolic, D., Messner, J.I., Lee, S., and Anumba, C. (2010) "The Virtual Construction Simulator - development of an educational simulation game."** n //Computing in Civil and Building Engineering, Proceedings of the International Conference//, W. TIZANI (Editor), 30 June-2 July, Nottingham, UK, Nottingham University Press, Paper 9, p. 17


 * Nikolic, D., Jaruhar, S., and Messner, J. I. (2010) "An Educational Simulation in Construction: The Virtual Construction Simulator."** //Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering//. (Accepted)


 * Lead Contact:** Dragana Nikolic